A new Premier League broadcast contract will increase Aston Villa’s exposure on television.
In what is expected to be football’s most lucrative rights auction in history, the league will make about 270 matches available for live broadcast in the next domestic television cycle.
The current cycle comprises 200 matches spread across seven packages, but the league hopes to provide more games spread across just five packages in the next auction. The Premier League is also breaking with precedent by attempting to secure a four-year contract from 2025-26 to 2028-29, rather than the standard three-year pact.
The league’s Invitation To Tender (ITT) on Wednesday evening revealed that the 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon blackout will remain in place, but that all 2 p.m. Sunday kick-offs, including those moved due to clubs competing in European play, will now be televised.
The package will include five midweek rounds instead of the existing four (including the Boxing Day round), while the Saturday 12.30pm and 5.30pm and Sunday 2pm and 4.30pm slots, as well as the 8pm Monday or Friday slot, will remain.
Sky now owns four packages (128 matches every season), TNT owns two (52 matches), and Amazon owns one (20 matches). The reduction in the number of bundles will almost certainly increase competition, with streaming platform DAZN said to be one of the parties interested in entering the market. An impartial monitoring trustee will oversee the tender process.
According to the league, each package will include between 42 and 65 games. The current agreement is said to be worth £4.8 billion to the league and its teams over a three-year period.
